Feelings Of The Nakama Kind
by MaximumVolume
Summary: Strange and sweet moments of affection between the Straw Hat crew and their captain. Nakamahip, through and through.


Feelings Of The Nakama Kind: They're just showing that they care.

Today is a simple day, just like all the others. He's busy layed out on deck, soaking up the sun like a dozing house cat. For once, he's not up and about, begging Sanji for food or wrecking havoc upon the deck. His actions mirror that of a certain swordsman, except he's awake and lot more cheerful, it shows in his smile. Right now, all Luffy wants to do is drink in the suns rays and watch the clouds float by, it's relaxing really, and he sits up momentarily to stretch his back, when suddenly Robin goes walking up behind him, silent and graceful like some nomadic being. He smells her perfume before anything else and is about to turn around to greet her when she puts something on his head.

She presses it down on his forehead, and it tickles his skin and makes him squirm.

"Huh?" He leans his neck back and stares at Robin's face who is blocking out the sun, she smiles down at him gently and gives a windchime giggle. "What's up, Robin?"

"Nothing, just putting on a crown for our King." She responds in that quiet, all-knowing tone she was so infamous for. Luffy quirks an eyebrow, but all the archeologist does is pat his head and walk away, smiling to herself.

It's only when Luffy goes to check in the mirror does he see the flower crown embroided around his head, and it reminds the rubber boy of when she would weave those same flowers through his hair on rainy, halcyon days, when it was too wet and stormy to do anything productive. It's better than any piece of gold or silver, and he grins big and wide at the gesture.  
_

Returning from the bathroom, after fully inspecting his floral headpiece, Luffy runs into Chopper, whose short and plump stature causes him to waddle instead of actually walk, little hoofs clicking against the wooden hallways.

Luffy gives him a smile and Chopper does so in return, but puts one hoof out in front of him and stops the rubber boy from walking any further.

"I need to check your bandages," he said in his childish, high pitched voice. Luffy pouts and crosses his arms.

"I don't wanna," he whines in his usual fashion and Chopper walks past him to the infirmary.

"Come on."

Arguing is fruitless with Luffy, and the boy swivels around, still pouting, but adds in a teasing tone.

"Okay, you're the doctor, after all."

Luffy loved seeing Chopper's reaction whenever someone addressed him like that, it was fun to see him dance around and fume under the praise. Chopper wiggles and swished from side to side, a blush rising to his face as he gives an embarrassed grin.

"Dumbass, th-that doesn't make me happy at all!" He crows, and Luffy laughs, bright and full, and walks with the small reindeer into the room.

His injuries are all the same, always from enemies and the occasional accident, but nothing he can't fix. This one is near his chest, almost touching the jagged X that brings back some painful memories. While re-bandaging the wound, Chopper rummages through a small brown bag and holds out something for the captain. It's round and pink and looks like a Rumble Ball, perched carefully in his little reindeer hand.

"What's that?" Luffy asks, face inches from the brightly colored sphere, scratching his head.

"It's candy," the reindeer responds and he only has a nanosecond to pull his arm away before the red vested boy swallows it whole.

"Mmm!" Luffy gushes, speech slightly garbled with the sweet confectionary in his mouth. "It's good! Thanks, Chopper!" Rarely did the reindeer ever share his stash of sweets, they reminded him a lot of his home town and tasted like cotton candy, of course he'd be a little stingy! But this time things are different.

Chopper just nods and puts the rest of the bandages away in his desk drawer and when he turns, his gaze holds something Luffy can't recognize. Suddenly, the doctor has launched himself at him, little arms around his waist.

"Please take care of yourself, Luffy." Chopper says, voice stifled due to the red vest. The black haired boy rarely has time to react, he can't even utter a responce before the pink hatted reindeer looks up and for once, his eyes wern't swimming with tears on such a sensitive topic, but instead light up like stars with a smile to match.

"Promise?"

Silence fills the room and for one frigid moment, Chopper thinks he's done something wrong, but all Luffy does is grin right back and say.

"Yeah, I promise."

He's so focused getting to the kitchen that he trips over Zoro's legs. The swordsman opens one eye to look at his captain sprawled out on the floor and...was that a flower crown on his head?

"Bwaaah~" the black haired boy omits a long note of disappointment, eyebrows furrowed as he speaks into the wood of the floor. "I swallowed the candy!"

Zoro is momentarily confused and asks:

"Luffy, what're you doing?"

"I was headin' to the kitchen!" He exclaims, now back to his optimistic self, how he could be so happy and bright all the time would forever be the universal question for the green haired man.

Luffy hoists himself up, brushes off some dust and is about to go dizzying up the stairs and into the kitchen when Zoro's voice halts him.

"Luffy?"

The rubber boy turns. "Yeah?"

Zoro leans his head back to look at the sky, closing his eyes again.  
He remembers a wooden post, the begging of a life, and a promise.

"Nothing, I'm just...really glad we stayed."

The statement is odd coming from such a violent, rough edged man, but Luffy never questions, he just flows and bends like river water, and accepts Zoro's gruff words with a thousand watt smile that nearly sets the first mates soul ablaze when he looks at it.

"Haha, me too!"

He wonders what the future will think of Monkey D. Luffy in many years time.

Luffy didn't exactly mind all the attention he was getting today, he reveled in all the compliments and physical gestures, he savors the moments on his tongue and let's them set a fizz inside his brain in sweet soda bubbles. So when he goes sauntering into the kitchen, he's practically glowing and he's not the first to notice.

"You could light up the entire Grand Line with that aura, Luffy." remarks Sanji, stirring a bowl full of melted chocolate. He's got his stare fixated on the oven, inhaling the smoke from his cigarette before exhaling and speaking again.

"Something good happen?"

Luffy nods vigorously and laughs, he'll never admit it, but Luffy's laughter was like water after days of thirst, it was a glorious symphony to the ears. It made the blonde haired cook giddy with a feeling he only got when talking about All Blue, even Zeff's deep and hearty laugh couldn't compare to the dessert of Luffy's vocal amusement. (Imagine that, a dessert resembling the laugh of his captain, it was too magnificent to even comprehend!).

"Everyone's bein' extra nice today!" He gives another laugh and Sanji has to tighten his hold on the spoon to compose himself; he was in love with that laugh. Albeit, this type of love was significantly different from the love he felt when, say- Nami or Robin laughed, their mirth like billowing summer breezes on early, watercolor mornings.

"Is that so?"

The cooks looks abesentminded today, too busy with whatever he is making and so Luffy thinks he'll be too distracted to see him sneak a piece of fruit from the nearby bowl on the table. He's barely crouched low enough to shuffle and slither his way to the abundance of apple's, grapes and watermelon when the cook fixes him with a glare. Preparing for the kick that was sure to come, it takes a minute before Luffy realizes that he's said something.

"Huh?"

"I said here, idiot,"

Sanji's voice is far from irritated, more amused than anything else. His onyx eyes follow the length if Sanji's arm, the large mixing ladle has been set down and replaced with a silver tablespoon with chocolate batter clutched in his nimble fingers. It's extended out to Luffy, and the owner of the hand looks away with his face flushing crimson. Delighted, Luffy takes the spoon in his mouth and let's the chocolate slip into his taste buds before leaving the utensil clean, still gripped in Sanji's grasp.

"Hahaha! Thanks, Sanji! It tastes great!"

He doesn't think about the fact that he's been served a portion of what was supposed to be the ladies dessert, nor does he wonder about the reason why, it flies right over his head, and he's too caught up in the riptide of sweet chocolate and nakama to really even care.

The door swings shut behind the cook and he sets the bowl down on the countertop.

"Shitty rubber," he smirks, elbow on the table while his hand tries desperately to cover up his flaming, smiling face.

Although he told himself not to think about it, Luffy can't help but wonder what's come over his crew. Usually _he_ was the one being so affectionate and touchy, flinging them all into one group hug, (a group hug which ends up being a heap of body parts, snappish comments and barely stifled laughter). Still happy from his treat in the kitchen, he nearly walks right past Franky, although how anyone could miss his large metal form is a puzzle indeed.

"Oi, Luffy-bro!" Franky's odd, rumbling speech was like hit in the back, a glorious kick in the gut. Luffy has never heard anything like it, and he's glad he'll be able to hear it everyday. "What's going on?"

"Nothin'...hey, Franky, do you know what's up with everyone?" Luffy thinks that perhaps a conspiracy is in order, they must know something that he doesn't!  
"Huh?" The cyborg raises an eyebrow at the question and Luffy elaborates quickly, tilting the rim of his straw hat upwards to get a better look at Franky while he did so.

"Hmm...that certainly is odd," Franky strokes his chin sagely after Luffy tells him of the days events, and erupts in a big, mile long grin, complete with his pose and a wink.

"It's probably because your so SU-PER, Luffy-bro! You ever think of that?!"

Luffy nearly falls over laughing, clutching his sides whenever Franky struck his odd signature pose out of nowhere.

"That could be it! But your a lot more..SU-PER than me, Franky-bro!"

The blue haired cyborg stops what he's doing to gaze incredulously at his captain, that was a first. Nobody had ever called him"Franky-bro" before. (He remembers an incident with Robin in which she jokingly used his his word "super" in a quiet sort of tone and he could still feel that deep blush beneath all his cold and metal limbs, he nearly choked in surprise.)

Before he gets a chance to say anything else, the straw hatted hurricane has dissapeared and left the robotic man in a dazed, pondering state. It takes a minute, but he eventually relaxes and melts back into the lawn.

_Nah_, he thinks, sporting a smile. _No one could be as wonderful as you._

He finds Nami writing on a piece of paper in the aquarium, long hair falling in ginger streams down her back.

"He-ey, Nami!" He gives a singsong to her name, launching himself in the chair across from her to look at her work. She's got a map out and drying in the sun, pen scratching against her lined paper while her tongue sticks out ever so slightly in concentration.

"What is it, Luffy?" She asks, too absorbed in her work to snap at him for interrupting.

It takes him a minute to find out that she's got small, colorful things tangled in her ginger mane and Luffy, upon closer inspection, finds out with immediate ecstasy that she's got flowers in her hair also. And not just any flowers at that. He had picked those for her two days ago as a gift when they left their previous island (he had thought about doing the same for Robin, but the dark haired woman had so much already, so he had given her a butterfly clip for her hair instead.)

"Hey!" He jumped, pointing. "You put the flowers in!"

Nami looks up briefly and smirks, "Yeah, I couldn't just let them go to waste." It was useless telling Luffy that such fragile things would die soon once plucked, but the gesture was so kind and sincere that she didn't have the heart to tell him. And besides, it made her hair look good.

"Dinner is almost ready," Nami notes, still focused on her writing.

"I can't wait!" The strangled sound of Luffy trying to sound withered and starved makes her laugh. He cranes his neck to see what she's doing and Nami purposely shifts her arm to block his view.

"You can't look!" There's the tiniest hint of a blush sprinkling her face, maps were something she could share freely, writing was another thing. Since he was already leaned forward, Luffy rests his head on her shoulder, dark hair tickling her skin and she stiffens just a bit before, gradually, relaxing.

"Something wrong?" Nami asks, just to be sure. She feels the instinctive need to know that he's okay every few hours, he has to smile as much as he can; two years is a lot to make up. He should be happy, Nami muses, and she'll do whatever she can to see that his days are brighter than the very sun and last longer than the sky. It's an honor that has been bestowed upon her, and she'll see it carried out no matter the circumstance.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answers. A silence then, "this is nice."

Nami gives an agreeable hum under her breath, and her pen quickens it's pace before she sets it down with a tap. Luffy removes his head from her shoulder and watches her as she gets up from the table and leaves, but not before throwing him a smile over her shoulder and just like that, she's gone.

Luffy shivers with excitement, she's forgotten her paper! He snatches it from it's resting place and unfolds it to reveal his name written in her fancy, neat cursive over and over again, down the length of the paper then, just in the middle it stops, and something else is written there.

_I love you._

It takes Luffy longer than it should have for him to realize that she wanted him to see it all along.

He sees Brooke staring out into the endless waves, he's got Nami's note tucked inside his pocket, straw hat tipped back around his neck to expose Robin's beautifully crafted ornament. For once, Brooke isn't playing the violin, nor is he singing. He just stands there, long limbs clad in a black suit and purple tie. The scene is almost a little melancholy, and Luffy gets the feeling that something may be wrong with his musician until the skeleton turns and says in a joyous tone:

"Ah, Captain! Just the person I wanted to see!"

His voice holds no signs if distress or strain, and Luffy inwardly sighs in relief before taking a spot next to him.

"That is quite a fashion statement you have there," Brooke says, tilting his skull towards Luffy's crown and he beams with pride.

"Yeah, Robin made it for me, isn't it great?"

"I'll have to ask her to make me one, ah! We'll match!" The thought of Brooke's majestic hairdo covered in daisies and tulips makes Luffy laugh, bright and orange like the sunset.

"Luffy, may I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure."

"It's just that...I went insane a long time ago," Brooke explains, his voice is steady, yet it drips with something old and wise. Many years of lonliness has caused the musician to do some very deep thinking. He realizes, at this very moment, that he has never felt so incredibly _happy_ before. Not since his time with the Rumbar Pirates.

"It's odd to say...but I think all of us have experienced such broken loneliness before, and perhaps we all went a little mad from it." Luffy doesn't interject, merely let's the man talk, not a hint of impatience dwelling on his face.

"And then we found you, Luffy. It took a while, but we found you. And we were seperated once again. For two years, can you believe it?! But our paths crossed again, we were destined to meet and never part. Not even in death. Tell me," he turns now to address the question. "can you see the aura of your nakama, Luffy?"  
It took a while to get to the question, Brooke notices, but he figured that Luffy wouldn't mind.

Luffy _doesn't_ mind, but he is confused; he lifts his head to look up at Brooke.

"Aura?"

"Yes."

"Hmm.." Luffy taps his sandaled foot in quick succession. "Sanji said something about that earlier, though I don't think that's what you're talkin' about."

"It is a certain energy that someone gives off. Only the strongest of people can see it, that, and the dead. Everyone's aura's were like meteors, Luffy, the day we were re-united. They shined so bright and fierce, it nearly hurt my eyes to look at them...yet, I have no eyes to look out of, Yohohohoho!"

Luffy snickers and tries to hide his smile. He likes the thought of aura's, it was fun to think about. A comfortable silence falls between the two, and Brooke pipes up to speak again.

"I can see your aura now, Luffy."

He shoots straight up, eyes wide and shining, mouth agape.

"You can? What's it look like? Does it have a color?! _Brooke, that's so cool!"_

His enthusiasm is boundless, rolling off his shoulders in waves. Brooke watches in amusement as his captain bounces up and down on the heels of his feet, becoming a hyperactive tornado once more. It surprises the skeleton when Luffy's rubber arms go wrapping themselves around his thin frame and crush him into a hug, nearly lifting the man into the air, nevermind the fact that Brooke was three times his height.

"Yours is definitely the brightest, captain."

His laughter says it all.

Cloud-watching with Usopp was always interesting. Luffy would point out one that looked like a dragon or meat and the two would fall into a lapse of passing conversation, blurting out details to add on to their story, laughing at each other's jokes which would then evolve into some whimsical (and somewhat dangerous) game that involved Chopper (who couldn't stay away from Luffy's antics even if his life depended on it), while the rest of their little family watched on in either irritation or amusement.

Today, instead of cloud watching or running around on deck, Usopp paints on a large canvas far away from the center of attention, he can't really focus when everyone was eyeing him. He waves Luffy over and tries to teach him how to paint _properly_, not splatter the colorful substances around at random like he usually did. It was doomed to fail because this was _Luffy_ he was dealing with, he should have known better. And who ever heard of proper art anyway? It's when Luffy catches a streak of baby blue of the left side of the sharpshooter's face does it all go downhill from there.

The paint goes sliding everywhere when the buckets get knocked over, and when he gets up on shaky legs, Usopp slips and slides and goes tripping over Luffy's legs. Tangled in each other, both boys go falling into a puddle of summer green and egg yolk yellow. Usopp is disgruntled while Luffy just laughs, his happy demeanor mirroring the orange smeared across his forehead.

"I can't believe I even thought about doing this," Usopp mumbles, grimacing as a splotch of purple drips from his curly black hair.

"You're not mad, are you?" Luffy asks, and Usopp glances at him out of the corners of his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I kinda ruined your painting."

It's true, what was meant to be the sea ends up being a multitude of colors. Splattered and smudged across the white surface of the canvas, the original picture is lost but Usopp thinks it's not so bad.

"Nah," he rolls over to give his captain a grin, still entangled in a messy rainbow hug. "I like it this way."

"Hehe, me too!"

Dinner isn't the most _quiet_ meal of the day, not when you had Luffy as a captain.

Franky had found both him and the sharpshooter blanketed in a sticky mess of colors and wasn't pleased with all the paint running along the Thousand Sunny, he ordered them both to scrub the wood spotless and Nami suggested the two of them wash the paint from their clothes, skin and hair before dinner started.

Usopp beat Luffy to it, and the Straw Hats minus one gathered around the dinner table sharing secret smiles when Luffy comes in, hair still slightly moist from trying to get rid of all the paint.

"So what was today all about?" He asks as he enters the kitchen.

"What do you mean?" questions Brooke quietly and Chopper tries to cover up a smile sliding its way up his face.

"Don't act dumb, you guys!" Luffy doesn't have the heart to be angry with them (how could he be, with such precious people by his side?) and he just laughs like he always does.

"What's the matter?" Robin's voice feigns a childlike innocence, blue eyes sparkling.

"We just want to show our captain that we care," Nami says shyly, and both girls give Luffy a kiss on both sides of his face. This makes Sanji simmer like a pot of boiling water, and he makes a violent grab towards the soup ladle when his movements grind to a halt, he sees the look on Luffy's face. Everyone does.

It goes through a series of changes, he still looks a little confused, but it slowly dawns on him, pulling away the cloth from his eyes to show something that warms his heart and makes him shuffle around a bit on his feet. He doesn't know what to do, from the note burning a hole in his pocket, to the circle of flowers still perched atop his head and all the events in between. They all come back in flashes, beautiful images that rotate like clockwork in his brain.

His face feels hot for some reason, an odd feeling settling on his chest. They watch him grow red in the face and it takes every single bit of self control to stop the whole crew from hurling themselves at their Captain and envelop him in a huge embrace, the way he would always do with just a stretch of his arms.

"I don't know what to say," Luffy mumbles, oddly embarrassed and fidgety. Why couldn't he just say thanks? It wasn't hard.

It's Sanji, cool, collected Sanji, who goes and ruffles the boy's hair until it's sticking out in different directions. The act is brotherly, and enough to break Luffy from his daze and into a fit of laughter, it fills up the room and it's at that moment do they all find out..

"Take a seat, idiot, the food is ready."

that nothing could be more marvelous than their Pirate King.

**AN: Well, how was it? I'll admit I was incredibly nervous about uploading this story. I'm still not too pleased with how it came out (then again, it could just be my perfectionist tendencies and writer woes getting the best of me). Tell me what you think, reviews and criteria is welcomed!**


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